At this special free event, presented in collaboration with the British Museum, Aboriginal Australian artist Eric Avery performs music, movement and poetry in response to the Museum’s current exhibition Reimagining Captain Cook: Pacific Perspectives.  The performance will fuse Aboriginal language and sounds with the music of Cook’s Europe, in the magnificent setting of the Museum’s Great Court.
At a moment when Museums are under attack about the provenance of their collections, Border Crossings is bringing artists from indigenous cultures to the centre of Britain’s imperial heritage, creating dialogues, challenges, and the potential for real change. Eric Avery is both indigenous and classical, both traditional and contemporary: his performance is a celebration both of heritage and of a living cultural tradition.
Eric Avery is a Ngiyampaa, Yuin, Bandjalang and Gumbangirr artist, who plays the violin, dances and composes music. Working with his family’s traditional language and custodial songs, he seeks to revive and continue this age-old legacy, creating new experiences of his people’s culture for the world.
Eric started learning classical music ‘by ear’ when he was 11 and continued to train at the Australian Institute of Music. He combines his skills on the violin to perform classical music and create new contemporary music expressing his Koori (NSW Aboriginal) heritage. Eric recently performed at Parliament House in Canberra to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the building.
The evening will also see the launch of the programme for Border Crossings’ ORIGINS Festival 2019, which runs at various venues throughout London from June 10th 2019 to June 23rd 2019. Border Crossings’ ORIGINS Festival of First Nations is a multidisciplinary festival of indigenous arts in London, focusing on intercultural dialogue & showcasing the very best artistic work from First Nations communities across the globe, including indigenous Australians, Native Americans (North and South), Maori, Pacific Islanders and Inuit. The festival will bring theatre, dance, music, ceremony, visual arts, literature, workshops, food events, screenings & talks, as well as an extensive programme of participation & learning to London, with a strong emphasis on reaching new, diverse participants & audiences.
ORIGINS 2019 is the sixth Festival of First Nations to be produced by Border Crossings, building on the successes of biennial festivals since 2009, and will place particular emphasis on participation & dialogue.
Reimagining Captain Cook – An Aboriginal Music Response is at The British Museum 1st March 2019.
